Category: Crown Jewel

Crown Jewel, Fireball Talks NASCAR, & High Velocity TV pen historic media deal

Crown Jewel, Fireball Talks NASCAR, and High Velocity TV have come to terms on a historic media rights deal for the 2025 Crown Jewel season. For the first time in Crown Jewel history, races will be broadcasted by external partners with commentators, live production, and media content.

Crown Jewel officials have finalized a deal for the Crown Jewel Cup Series with Fireball Talks NASCAR for all 36 points races, and 2 exhibition races for the 2025 Crown Jewel Cup Series season. Races will continue to take place on Wednesday nights and will feature the new franchise system announced by the officials yesterday. FTN will be rotating multiple sets of commentators through the booth for the 2025 season, each bringing a unique perspective to the league, while continuing to build on storylines created in the 2024 season. Each broadcast will consist of live production, custom numbers, custom broadcast assets, driver headshots, social media posts, pre-race trailers, and in-race advertising. This will allow the league to expand its social media and marketing efforts while also expanding sponsorship opportunities for the 2025 season and beyond.

READ MORE: 2025 Franchise System Reveal

For the 2025 Crown Jewel Xfinity Series, spectators can expect a twist for the broadcast – welcome to the Crown Jewel Cup Series Drivers Only broadcast! Headed by current broadcasters Nathaniel Campbell and Cory Mott, fans will be treated to a rotating cast of Cup Series talents telling the stories throughout the 33-race schedule. Nobody knows the league storylines quite like the veterans and giving them the opportunity to shine on the Xfinity broadcast will bring nothing but good times and great commentary for the fans of the Xfinity drivers.

For the 2025 VRS Truck Series, has inked an agreement with an up-and-coming broadcasting company – High Velocity TV. High Velocity TV recently filled in during a time of need for the Cup Series, and proved they can be a great asset to the community. HVTV will broadcast all 23 races of the VRS Truck Series season, with HVTV commentator Christian Delgado heading the booth. He will be joined by Crown Jewel community member and current Cup Series commentator Bill “Billy” Martin, who will continue as the “colorful” commentator and league expert for the broadcast.

SEE NOW: OFFICIAL: VRS partners with Crown Jewel as Truck Series title sponsor

League owner, Cory Mott, spoke on the media deal today:

This historic media deal will allow us to reach audiences that otherwise would not have been able to enjoy the exciting atmosphere our league has crafted. Combined with the franchise system, this will allow us to bring an even more authentic racing experience to all league members, their friends and families, and of course – the fans. Increasing fan experience has been a major focus for us for the 2025 season, and this brings us one step closer.

High Velocity TV owner, Christian Delgado, also spoke to the media:

We are happy for the opportunity to broadcast for Crown Jewel. We are fairly new and just getting our foot in the door when it comes to broadcasting, but we look forward to getting to know the drivers and community members throughout our time.

2025 Franchise System Reveal

Crown Jewel officials have released the official 2025 Franchise System transition processes and procedures – let’s discuss. Haven’t seen it yet? You can find it here: 2025 Franchise System.

Before we start talking about the franchise system itself, we need to understand how teams will be classified for the remainder of the 2024 season and transitioned over to the 2025 season. With a system like the franchise system, team owners take a step up into a middle management-type role, where they will be responsible for operating their team and will also be responsible for their drivers. As seen below, it is imperative that any teams planning on participating in franchise bidding over the offseason are registered prior to the 2024 Cup Series playoffs and participate in 20 combined races (2 drivers complete one race means 2 combined races) before the end of the 2024 season.

  • Full Time Team
    • A team that completed a minimum of 20 combined races in the 2024 Cup season.
  • Part Time Team
    • A team that completed less than 20 combined races in the 2024 Cup season.
  • Open Team
    • A team that is registered after the beginning of the 2024 Cup Series playoffs.

Now that we understand the types of teams that will be transitioning over, we can outline the transition procedures:

Transition Procedure Breakdown

  • At the end of the 2024 season, all drivers will become free agents.
League# of FranchisesCost ($)
Crown Jewel Cup Series36$50.00/season ea.
Crown Jewel Xfinity Series24 – 30$20.00/season ea.
  • Full time teams and Tier III Discord supporters that have been subscribed for a minimum of 3 months will have priority access to Cup Series franchise bidding.
  • All teams that do not acquire a Cup Series franchise will have priority access to Xfinity Series franchise bidding.
  • Teams may claim a maximum of 4 franchises in each series.
  • All un-acquired franchises will be auctioned to the community.
  • Full-time Cup Series drivers are ineligible for Xfinity Series drivers points and limited to 8 regular season starts in the Xfinity Series.
  • Full-time Xfinity drivers are ineligible for Cup Series drivers points, but are not limited in Cup Series starts.
  • Crown Jewel will be hosting a media day for all series on January 29, 2025.

Why a franchise/charter system?

Having a system like this will allow all dedicated community members the opportunity to guarantee a place to race at least once per week in our flagship series. With concerns over the skill level in the league rising, this will allow us to cater to dedicated, long-term members while still offering the opportunity for new drivers to join and race.

The franchise system will bring an aspect of teambuilding not seen anywhere else in iRacing community leagues. Team owners will be responsible for putting the most competitive drivers in the Cup Series, while being encouraged to scout and develop talent in the Xfinity Series. Team owners will take a larger role in the community and continue to grow the overall talent pool within the league. Drivers will naturally climb to the ranks of the Cup Series, while others will fall due to poor performance, team orders, etc. This is the start of a greater expansion towards having a fully developed NASCAR career mode eco-system that spans from Cup all the down to ARCA and eventually beyond.

In the event that participation does not reach the levels expected, we have a failsafe plan to remove the Xfinity franchises and open it back up for full participation. In the event that participation is larger than expected, we also have a rapid acceleration plan in place to implement Truck team owners and move forward with a similar system to expand the ecosystem before the 2025 season starts. However, it is the current plan to keep the VRS Truck Series open to all for the 2025 season.

On top of an expanded ecosystem, expanded owner’s standings will be tracked based off the car numbers ran in the Cup and Xfinity series, and team owners can expect prizes at the end of the season based on performance. As well as a more refined incident system that will be announced later in the fall. These are all features that are now possible due to the new franchise system – with more planned on being added moving into 2025, 2026, and beyond!

If you haven’t seen the full breakdown of the 2025 Crown Jewel Franchise transition processes and procedures, you can find them here.

LAS VEGAS: Hamilton wins as chaos ensues behind

LAS VEGAS, N.V. — Noah Hamilton leads 22 laps and secures his first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Last night saw the 14th round of the 2024 ARCA series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 26 drivers would fill out the grid for 100 laps as the sun set in the distance.

Qualifying would see the #42 Nishil Condoor guide his Chevrolet Camaro to pole position with a 31.211, which would end up beating #17 Thomas Villano’s 31.245 putting the point leader in 2nd. Aiden Schramm would start 3rd in the 14 car and would end up leading the most laps with 48 in total.

The green flag would fly as Nishil Condoor would lose the lead early to Aiden Schramm, the race would continue until lap 11 where a yellow flag saw an incident including Mason Hoeffner and Caleb Tipton. This incident would kick off a slue of cautions throughout the first half of the race.

Off that restart, Nick Cordova and Joe Gibbons would end up making contact through the tri-oval which would end up collecting Sam Bennett, Garth Griswold, and Bill Martin. After a single car incident involving Ray Gill, Aiden Schramm and Stewart Harding Walker would make contact in front of the field. This incident would have the #18 Cory Mott collected in the chaos.

At the midway break Noah Hamilton would find his #2 Ford Mustang out front as another yellow flag would fly for an incident started from Gordon Fraley and Haden Higginbotham. After the break Aiden Schramm would find his way back out front.

Well on the first one it seemed that Gordon thought we we’re going to make it four wide and he quarter paneled me – this one now looks like he did the same thing.

Haden Higginbotham, #10 Missile Racing Camaro

Tempers would cool down after two quick cautions but the eventual race winner Noah Hamilton would collect front end damage, he would end up at the back of the field after pitting to repair. A five car battle out front would ensue including Nishil Condoor, Noah Hamilton, Vince Mitchell, Aiden Schramm, and Thomas Villano. Condoor would end up getting the best of the battle as Schramm and Hamilton would battle for 2nd.

However with 11 laps to go, Cory Mott would be involved in another incident where his #18 Camry would end up sliding into the outside wall and clip the #22 Garth Griswold, ending the Hollywood Motorsports driver night early.

On the restart, Thomas Villano would make an aggressive move three wide for the lead and would end up turning then leader at the time Nishil Condoor. Austin Runkel would end up having no where to go and run into the side of Condoor’s machine ending both of their nights.

In total the race would include 12 cautions and with a natural overtime including the final. Joe Wright would end up sideways as drivers came out of turn 4 for the white flag, however a caution would see them line back up and go for it once more.

Hamilton would end up pulling away on the restart as Schramm and Villano battled for 2nd. The feel good story of the night would go to Jonathan Leger as he would make a move of the year contender to pass both Schramm and Villano out of turn 4 to take 2nd place. Both of those drivers would also allow Vince Mitchell to sneak through for 3rd as they had to settle for 4th and 6th.

Thomas Villano holds onto his point lead over a race absent Jim Mott who did not start last night’s event. Top Tier driver Cory Mott who had a pretty rough night would be able to recover to a 9th place finish and catapult himself past an also absent Bob Baker in points.

When asked about winning his first race in Crown Jewel competition Noah Hamilton had this to say.

Feels pretty good, I definitely didn’t expect it that’s for sure. Coming into tonight I thought a top 5 would be a miracle, but it worked out!

Noah Hamilton, #2 Apex Motorsports Mustang

ARCA competition will be on hold next week and will return on August 11th at Irwindale for a short track showdown. Tomorrow night’s Bob Henry’s 2004 Cup action will kick off from Dover at 8:25 PM ET.

INDIANAPOLIS: WOLFE’S ON FIRE, WINS BRICKYARD AND MID-SEASON TOURNAMENT

Thomas Wolfe emerged victorious in a thrilling showdown at the iconic Indianapolis Speedway on Wednesday, July 24th, as he clinched the prestigious Brickyard 400 title and secured the Mid-Season Tournament crown. Wolfe has been red hot through the summer and has emerged as the new alpha male in the CJR Circuit Cup Series.

The high track temperatures on race day presented a challenging environment for the drivers, leading to low grip levels and creating an electrifying atmosphere for fans. Despite the difficult conditions, the drivers showcased their skills and determination, resulting in a total of 14 lead changes. As track temperatures dropped speed and aggressive driving increased causing a lot of turmoil in the field with 17 Cautions throughout the race and completing 45 laps under the yellow flag.

PORTER DOMINATES STAGE 1-2

Cody Porter delivered a standout performance by clinching first place in Stage 1, with Oskar Jensen and Wyatt Sadler taking the second and third spots, respectively. Porter continued his strong showing by winning Stage 2, with Thomas Wolfe and Oskar Jensen finishing in second and third place, respectively.

Cody Porter, who led an impressive 72 laps, had a strong start as it seems to be the weekly norm, but would get caught up in some trouble at the end causing Porter to finish outside the Top 10 for the first time this year. Oskar Jensen also demonstrated his prowess behind the wheel by leading 67 laps, putting up a tough fight until the very end.

CAUTIONS LEAD TO THRILLING FINISH

The race was not without its fair share of drama with multiple wrecks occurring down the stretch, as a wreck on lap 139 ignited tensions between drivers Stewart Harding Walker and Michael Deitch, culminating in a heated exchange and post-race confrontations. Security was tight to avoid any brawls from breaking out in the pits, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this new fierce rivalry remerges later in the season.

With 7 to go the racing got wild in the front. Porter and Wolfe were battling hard for the second-place spot behind Jensen. Porter and Wolfe would make contact in the short shoot of turns 1-2 sending Porter sliding across the nose of Wolfe and the yellow flag would come out which was the one thing Jensen did not want as he was in control out front. CJR Officials would rack’em and stack’em for a G/W/C Finished but another caution would fly on the restart as the field would get stacked up in the back.

Jensen and Wolfe would bring it to the green flag for the 2nd overtime and both would get a great jump off the line. By the time the leaders hit the backstretch they had a half second lead on the field and would go door to door down the back stretch and Wolfe would get put into the wall entering Turn 3, but Jensen overdrove the entry giving Wolfe room to crossover and take back the lead going into Turn 4 where both drivers would send it in both slightly overdriving the exit sending Wolfe into the wall and Jensen on his rear quarter panel catches all of that momentum off the wall and shoots him sliding into the inside wall, but Barney doesn’t take out the yellow flag and the race would stay green.

RACE TO THE LINE

Wolfe would take the white flag, after being involved in incidents with the Top 2 leaders of the race, its now his turn to fight off a charging Steven Carlile not only for the race win, but for the Mid-Season Tournament win. Carlile who has been drooling over a win has finished 6th, 2nd, and 3rd in the last three races and would try to catch Wolfe going into Turn 1. Carlile would be side by side coming out of Turn 2, but then Allen Phillips would catch Carlile out of Turn 4 and would take the momentum off Carlile allowing Wolfe to run away with the win. Phillips and Carlile would go door to door for 2nd place with Phillips edging out Carlile by 0.018.

“It was a great point day for me, especially with being on the bubble for the playoffs, I will take a 2nd place finish at this point in the season. Big shoutout to my spotter Jay, and my team owner Nathan for giving me the opportunity to have a great finish this week.”

Allen Phillips #5 Hollywood Motorsports Chevrolet

Carlile who is probably disappointed with not being able to secure that win once again can’t hang his head on the valiant effort. Carlile has now finished Top 5 in the last 3 races and has 6 Top 10 finishes in the last 9 races since winning the All-Star Open Race at North Wilkesboro.

Wolfe who has been holding down the Backroad Bandit Racing team it seems for the last month continues his hot streak through the summer with his 3rd win of the regular season winning 2 out of the last 3 races. It would seem that Wolfe is challenging for his alpha male role at the front of the pack. Wolfe was last seen leaving the track at Indianapolis with a big $50 Check tucked under his arm and a big smile on his face.

“Normally the luck does not swing my way, so this was a welcomed change. I think after Chicago happened everything else is just a bonus, winning the Brickyard 400 is certainly a nice one.”

Thomas Wolfe #94 Backroad Bandit Racing Chevrolet

The Circuit Cup Series will take a 2-week break before resuming the racing action for the Cookout 250 at America’s Premier Short Track Richmond Raceway. With 4 races to go in the chase for a playoff spot, drivers are feeling the pressure to perform at a high level which leads to tensions in the garage. Relax for two weeks and be ready to come back for a thrilling end to the regular season folks!

OFFICIAL: CROWN JEWEL RACING POSTPONES SRX INVITATIONAL

CJR Officials announced today that the Thursday Night Thunder SRX Invitational has been postponed until further notice due to “Market Factors.” The Mini Series was set to kick off tonight at Stafford Speedway and run a 4 week long season in the midst of the Summer Olympic break. CJR CEO Cory Mott made the executive decision to postpone the series and hopefully reschedule it for the off-season.

“It is with deep disappointment that we announce the postponement of the Thursday Night Thunder SRX Invitational Series. We had high anticipation and great excitement for this series and the drivers that we invited to race in it. Our expectations, however, have been tempered by market factors that have proven to be to much to overcome.”

Cory Mott, CJR CEO

The CJR ARCA Series will be back in action at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday night with racing beginning at 8 P.M. EST.

INDIANAPOLIS: Avila Dominates Opening Night of the VRS Truck Series, Wins Three in a Row

VRS Truck Series at Indianapolis Recap
The Crown Jewel Racing League kicked off its inaugural season with the Virtual Racing School (VRS) at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The 200-lap race was action-packed and featured more cautions than there are potholes on an interstate. But in a night filled with fresh faces, one driver looked familiar in victory lane. Johnny Avila captured his third consecutive VRS Truck Series win, reminding everyone that he’s still the man to beat.

During the qualifying session, as the sun set in the West, the new Sheriff in town Johnny Avila and his Deputy Cody Porter took control of the front row. They led for most of the race, covering 179 out of 205 laps. Porter took the lead early on and led 57 of the 58 laps to win Stage 1, with Avila coming in 2nd, and Nishil Condoor taking 3rd in the caution-filled stage. The fans were enjoying the race, but were eager for some green flag racing as 28 of the 58 stage laps were completed under the yellow flag.

On Lap 22, #25 Jim Mott loses control as #88 Connor Wold tries to squeeze by making contact with the #4 of Tyler Krawczyk.

“I tried to dodge Jim Mott and got spun around and luckily I got spun straight and didn’t get any head damage from the incident.”

Connor Wold #88 Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolet

During the stage caution, William Ransone chose not to pit and instead took the lead to lead the field at the start of Stage 2. As the stage commenced, Ransone engaged in a heated battle for the lead with Porter. Unfortunately, their intense competition led to contact in Turn 3, causing Porter’s car to spin out.

Ransone and Porter made contact here on Lap 64 causing Porter to get loose and spin around.
Porter would make his way back into the Top 10 by lap 100.

Stage 2 would get the early cautions out of the way and go green for the 2nd half to finally appease the fans for some green flag racing. Avila would take the Stage 2 win on Lap 120, with #82 Nathan Campbell in 2nd, and Condoor bringing home another 3rd place stage finish.

“Cory must have got the track workers to spray some caution be gone on the track cause this is some GREEN FLAG RACING.”

Cody Leach Season Ticket Holder

The green flag runs would continue into Stage 3 and would have some great green flag racing until Lap 167. Corey Schramm making his first start in the VRS Truck Series, was making his way to the front a little to fast and punted myself into the outside wall. Campbell was also involved in the incident sending all three to pit road to get repairs.

#00 Garth Griswold gets sent around after a bump from #84 Corey Schramm into Turn 1.

“It was an accident and those happen on short tracks. The same thing happened to me with 3 to go when I just clipped the outside corner of Kallhoff and sent him around. Hopefully we all understand these accidents happen on the short tracks.”

Garth Griswold #00 Lane Frost Chevrolet

It would be a caution filled final 20 laps with 3 different cautions. The final caution would come on lap 198 when Henry Kallhoff would get a push from Griswold and send Kallhoff around. The caution would send the race into overtime for a Green-White-Checkered Finish.

Avila would take green flag and run away with the lead on the green flag fighting off Porter, he would come around and take the white flag just before wrecks would start behind him. The race would stay green and Avila would come around to take the checkered flag and secure his third straight win.

The VRS Truck Series will be taking a break next week and will resume on August 5th at Rockingham Speedway. There are five races left in the regular season, and it looks like both Porter and Avila will have secured playoff spots, which will make the lead-up to the playoffs quite interesting. It will also be intriguing to see if Mike Burnett, who has been absent for the last few weeks, will make a comeback for the playoffs and attempt to regain his early season dominance.

For all of your sim-racing needs be sure to go checkout our sponsor Virtual Racing School for your sim-racing setups, coaching, and sim racing equipment. Don’t miss out on the Circuit Cup Series Crown Jewel race at the Brickyard 400. Racing action will begin at 8 P.M. EST and will be streamed by Mr. Christian Delgado and recasted to the Crown Jewel Racing Network.

The VRS® platform is a comprehensive online learning platform specifically built for sim racers. It includes a modern cloud-based app service which automatically uploads your telemetry into cloud storage and performs additional processing of your telemetry to make analysis easier and more powerful. Our tools track useful statistics and trends and have a number of collaboration features such as teams, data packs, and 1:1 coaching. We partner with some of the world’s best sim racers to give you weekly driving and setup tutorials, setups, ghost files, and driving comparisons.

INDIANAPOLIS: WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Circuit Cup Series takes the green flag live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 8:15pm EST.
WATCH HERE

HOT DRIVERS

  • Cody Porter-Xpress Esports-Chevy- Cody Porter has taken the Cup Series by storm. With 2 wins in his 4 starts, it seems like we are looking at a future Crown Jewel Champion in the years to come.
  • Vince Mitchell-Uber Motorsports-Ford- The curse may have lifted off of Vince’s season and boy is it the right time! 2 top 10 in the last 2 races and he has moved his way up to 8th in the points standings.
  • Justin Bell-Uber Motorsports-Ford- Justin Bell has taken form late in the season with 2 top 15’s in his last 2 starts. Moving up to 20th and out of the playoff battle, but a win with his recent form could be all the difference he needs to add another Uber Motorsports driver to the playoffs.

NOT DRIVERS

  • Zack Saunders-BBR-Chevy- Yes we know, Zack has had an amazing season so far but currently he has been out of form the last 3 races(outside of the top 5). With expectations so high for him can he turn his form around to make a late push for the regular season championship.
  • Paul Maziere-Independant-Toyota- With his last 2 races being a long cry from recent and outside of the top 20, the multi race winner may not retain his spot in the playoffs due to his extended leave of absence.

DRIVER NEWS

  • Thomas Villano penalty appeal was approved last week after some heated hearings. Even with him retaining his points it seems like he will be on the outside looking in during playoff time.
  • Nic Vasquez’s suspension has been lifting and will be racing tonight at Indy.
  • The silence of Mike Burnett has been felt this week with no statements to the media after his wreck. The 39 cars hauler was spotted entering the speedway in the early hours of the morning.
  • We still have no sign of Zander Short, even after the vague comments from principal owner of FMS Stephen Menke on his whereabouts. The 38 cars hauler has arrived at Indy but has not entered the gates.

PLAYOFF BUBBLE

  • FIRST IN: Natheniel Campbell(15th) Allen Phillips(12th) Caleb Tipton(10th)
  • FIRST OUT: Joe Wright(19th) Ben Lawson(18th) Garth Griswold(17th)

FAN PICK OF THE WEEK

Zach Thomas Johnson-Top Tier-Chevy
Zach has not had a good run as of late but luckily his win at Atlanta has sealed him into the playoffs. Some fans calling into Crown Jewel SiriusXM radio have stated that the driver of the #8 Zone chevy has become complacent this season after the win and believe if he doesn’t get to work, he will end getting eliminated in the first round of cuts. We on the other hand feel like this week is his chance to prove haters wrong. The Top Tier PR team has informed us that his sim time this week has shown great promise for him to secure his second win and get the team back on the right track before the playoffs. Johnson’s odds currently are sitting at +11000 for a win and +3700 for a top 5 and we believe this is good money based on the information received.

OFFICIAL: VRS partners with Crown Jewel as Truck Series title sponsor

Crown Jewel partners with popular sim racing company VRS, bringing them in as the Truck Series title sponsor for the remainder of the 2024 season and 2025 season.

The Sportsman Truck Series – a staple of the Crown Jewel Community – has received its first title sponsorship in its storied history. VRS, a sim racing hardware manufacturer and coaching company, has agreed to sponsor the remainder of the 2024 season and the upcoming 2025 season. The partnership between Crown Jewel and VRS will bring prizes and exclusive access to Team VRS – a coaching program currently in closed beta.

Being a Crown Jewel member will allow you exclusive access to apply for coaching programs run by eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRaicng Driver, Bobby Zalenski. Full information on Team VRS and the application process can be found here: TEAM VRS.

In addition to Team VRS coaching, VRS will also be providing the following prizes to the Championship 4 drivers at Phoenix later this season:

  • Champion (1st Place)
    • 1 Year VRS Subscription (Competitive Plan)
    • 3 Month Team VRS Scholarship
    • 1 VRS Sponsor Hat
  • Runner Up (2nd Place)
    • 3 Month VRS Subscription
    • 1 Month Team VRS Scholarship
  • 3rd Place
    • 3 Month VRS Subscription
    • 1 Month Team VRS Scholarship
  • 4th Place
    • 1 Month VRS Subscription
    • 1 Month Team VRS Scholarship

With the new title sponsorship, the VRS Truck Series logo has been reworked. Contingencies will be updated over the weekend.

We are very excited to have such a reputable sim racing company backing up the hard work we put into this league, day in and day out. This is nothing short of an incredible step forward for our community, leagues, and for our members. Thanks again to VRS for taking the time to meet with me and for supporting all the hard work that has got us to this point!

Cory Mott – Crown Jewel Owner

The VRS Truck Series Split #3 continues Monday at 8:30 PM EST – live from the Indianapolis Raceway Park short track for 200-laps around the tough short track! Watch live on the Crown Jewel Racing Network!

PENALTY REPORT UPDATE: VILLANO APPEAL GRANTED-PENALTY DISMISSED

BREAKING NEWS: Crown Jewel Officials announced that penalties issued to the #34 Thomas Villano have been rescinded after a lengthy appeal hearing this afternoon. Villano will be allowed to race next week at the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.

The jury made up of Ray Gill, Kristopher Burnham, and Cody Porter voted in a 2-1 favor that the incident involving Villano and Nathaniel Campbell under caution wasn’t intentional or reckless. CJR Official Gordon Fraley was stunned by the decision.

“I’m highly disappointed in the appeals panel ruling, the integrity of the sport is at an all time low.”

Gordon Fraley, Race Control Director

Villano who was a visibly different person in the courtroom had this to say.

“For the sake of everyone, I will try and clean it up in all honesty. I’ll be more rational, and will try not to yell at the members of the league anymore.”

Thomas Villano #34 Independant Driver

Villano was issued the black flag during the Pocono race for a stop and hold penalty and finished the race in 23rd. The Circuit Cup Series will resume next Wednesday night in Indianapolis for the Crown Jewel Race Brickyard 400. Let’s hope the drivers accept the jury’s decision and don’t attempt to take justice into their own hands.

POCONO: WHAT TO WATCH FOR

The Tickle Me Triangle 225 at Pocono Raceway! Green Flags flies at 8:15pm EST. WATCH HERE

HOT DRIVERS

  • Cody Porter-Xpress Esports-Ford: Cody has only raced 3 races this season with his late addition to the number 04 car but with all 3 races being in the top 5, the new kid on the block is shaking things up in the Circuit Cup Series.
  • Caleb “the uberman” Tipton-UberMS-Ford: Goes to show you longevity will lead you to the mountain tops. The Uberman hasnt had a finish outside of the top 20 in his last 10 races.
  • Zack Saunders-BBR-Chevy: Even after a 15th place finish in Chicago, He should be thanking the city of Chicago for its traffic jams that left his teammate Mike Burnetts hauler stranded on the I-90. He moves up to 2nd in the points standings.

NOT DRIVERS

  • Nic Vasquez-FMS- Ford: With all the woes, suspensions, and looming news coming from Factory motorsports press conference this morning. This 3x winning driver has had all the wrong news for a season that was going so right. Seems like he is on his final lifeline from principle owner Stephen Menke.
  • Zander Short-FMS-Ford: We have heard our first rumblings of the well being of the driver for the 38 car. Even though much information was not given to us by Stephen Menke and those at FMS, We do know Stephen is attempting to get Zander to the track for tonights race. With all the new talent in the league will he be able to come out as the same Zander we all know or are the lights to bright now.

DRIVER NEWS

  • Nic Vasquez will be serving his 1 week suspension. Even though he was not at the FMS press conference, reporters and fans have seen him walking around the pit area today.
  • Stewart Harding-Walker was given a week suspension as well but appealed with league officials so we are unsure if he will be on the track tonight at Pocono.
  • Zander shorts number 38 hauler was spotted entering Pocono. However the driver remains in the wind. With rumors of ongoing benders and a possible mandatory stay at a rehab facility, FMS executives have been playing this news close to the chest.
  • Mike Burnett and Cody Porter continue their back and forth that started after the Truck race at Chicagoland, which even spilled over into todays drivers meeting. Sources say both drivers were being held back by team members and the drivers meeting concluded with the last 15 minutes taking place on a zoom call.

FAN PICK OF THE WEEK

Ray Gill-MMC-Toyota:
If you can’t tell by now the fans dont want favorites to win, they want this current playoff situation shaking to its core. Ray Gill winning at Pocono would not only shake the fight for the playoffs but throw it off a 80 story building onto its back. Personally, I feel as if this race is all about strategy and who makes the right calls nearing the end of this race. If Ray Gill sitting currently at +26550 for a win and +9800 for a top 10 wins this it will all be about strategy. We tried to get a comment from his crew chief and we were “we will answer questions after the race.” Seems like they are locked in and dont want anything they have planned getting out for other teams to see. Tonight the points guys will get their points and a whole lot of them, but the winner, that driver will do something out of the box.